Fallout: New Vegas: Problem Solvers
by Shadow Chaser
Summary: Boone muses on the commentary his fellow NCR Troopers have for the Courier and himself.


Fallout: New Vegas: Problem Solvers

by: Shadow Chaser

 **Author's Notes:**

I recently picked my first game back up after stopping when Skyrim came out and decided to write this since I was a bit tickled by the commentary and implications the game had between Boone and a female Courier. For the record, since there are no romances in FNV, and just implications, this can be read squinting sideways as a ship, but it's pretty much what it says on the tin.

 **Story:**

"Man, I would _love_ to have a First Recon watching _my_ back," the comment floated on the air somewhere to Craig Boone's left as he stood outside of the command post of Camp Golf. The NCR trooper who said the comment passed near him a few seconds later with a suggestive wink and cheeky grin on her face before she continued on to her destination.

Boone ignored her comment and continued to scan the surroundings of the forward base, taking note the ridges and places where a sniper might hide or an attacking force might ambush them. Behind him, he heard Alex's no nonsense voice talking with Sergeant McCredie about sending a few NCR platoons up to Captain Gilles at Bitter Springs for reinforcement. McCredie was apparently reluctant, but it seemed that Alex was slowly persuading him with her logic and intelligence. He allowed himself the barest of smiles at the little swell of pride he felt at her handling of the NCR battalion leaders out here in the Mojave.

He was more certain now than two weeks ago when he had all but been dragged to Bitter Springs and reluctantly came face-to-face with what had happened there long ago. He was certain that Alex had NCR training, maybe even First Recon considering her incredible sniper skills. She could match him in finding and spotting hostile enemies with the hefty Anti-Material Rifle she had brought from the hidden enclave of the Brotherhood of Steel; Veronica had helped with the purchase. But she had no memory of her past, just her reflexes and guile guiding her since Benny had put a bullet in her skull and stole the platinum chip.

Maybe she had been a high ranking officer of sorts, judging by her intelligence and charisma in asking the major NCR outposts around the Mojave for reinforcements for Bitter Springs. But if she had been, no one in the wasteland recognized her, so he left his speculations unvoiced. Still, mysterious past aside, it was the first time in what seemed to be a _very_ long time since Carla that he found himself actually enjoying the company of someone, even if it was a woman.

The only issue was comments like the one he had just ignored.

Normally, it would not have bothered him, having deflected comments like that since he and Manny had been asked to join First Recon – the unit's reputation for being the last thing no one ever saw along with partying hard during downtime not withstanding. He had even played off of it when he was wooing Carla. But this time, he clearly wanted others to know that it was _not_ because of what many thought that he was following Alex around. She did not readily stir that _type_ of feeling in him. Far be it, she stirred more the sense of companionship and a shared sense of vengeful justice – especially going after Legionnaires.

He was pretty sure she was more interested in blowing someone's head off than having sex with them. He had spent most of his time with her; the others occasionally tagging along when their other matters didn't require them to be elsewhere. She had even undressed and re-dressed herself in front of him without even batting an eye when she she patched up a lucky shot a Legionnaire Assassin had gotten on her; her ever-present eyebot had disintegrated the assassin a second later. Cassidy who had been with them on a caravan delivery mission had turned red and mumbled something about decency and a few drinks before showing off the 'girls.'

Still he held his tongue as much as it slightly irritated him. Not for his behalf as he knew that everyone, including his fellow NCR troopers, thought he was more than likely sleeping with her, but rather on her behalf. It was not a sense of purity or justification to tell the world that she was not a slut or a whore as the Legionnaires they killed kept shouted the word at her, but because he felt oddly protective of her. But he kept his mouth shut as Carla had taught him a lesson when they had first met; a woman did not need a man to tell others what she already knew herself and showed by her actions.

He supposed that they would have to work harder to pop the heads off of fellow Legionnaires, even if others thought they were sleeping with one another. Why everyone had to have sex on their minds the whole time when a man and a woman became a sniper-spotter pair was beyond him. Then again, maybe it was something in the nuclear fallout, even this far inland.

"...as the Ghost, but that can't be right, can it? Ghost was supposed to be a cold, ruthless _bitch_. I mean, she's freaking _smiling_ ," Boone's ears caught wind of a quiet hushed conversation a few tents down from the main CP and he glanced to the side to see that Alex was smiling and nodded, patting the Sergeant's arm in a friendly manner before they shook hands. Their negotiations were coming to a close and Boone pushed off from the tent pole he was leaning against. ED-E quietly zipped past him with a soft _whirr_ as it floated through the row of tents leading out of Camp Golf.

He adjusted his beret and shoulder straps to his trusty Gobi Desert Sniper Rifle as Alex jumped the last few steps down. Her mannerisms looked for all intent and purposes, like the young innocent girl he had thought she was when he had first met her in Novac. She grinned and this time Boone was able to pick up on the ferocious delight behind her eyes. It wasn't as dead as his own, but he supposed that maybe her memories were slowly coming back to her; extinguishing the more innocent and naive side of her that he had first seen. He knew that if he had been the man he was before Carla had died, maybe he would have been a little sad for that kind of innocence dying, but as of now, he understood it. He even suspected that Alex understood it on some level too – which told him that she had dealt with such loss of innocence before – and he only knew of one way in which such innocence was lost – violence. Never any other option in the wastelands.

The soldiers that had been whispering to each other shut up as they walked past, and Boone could feel their eyes on them; on his red beret, on her form fitting stealth suit, but most of all, the big as fuck sniper rifles on each of their respective backs. He let the tiny smile that had been barely on his lips turn into a full-fledged one. He was rewarded with the sound of a squeak from an NCR trooper followed by the distinctive thud of a body falling to the ground as the trooper fainted.

He and Alex the Courier of New Vegas, they were problem solvers; no more, no less. What the others thought of them or what they inferred, well, he would just leave them to their thoughts. It was their actions that was going to drive Caesar's Legions out of the Mojave.

~END~


End file.
